Craft for July

Cloth Dollies

and their home Part 1

I thought making a cloth doll for my daughter would be hard, but it turned out easier than I thought. 

Taking the basic doll pattern, cutting it out, and then tracing it onto the fabric, all I had to do, was sew around the outside, leaving a hole in the side and on the top of the head, then cut out the doll.

 After that came turning them inside out and stuffing them.

 The doll on the left is one I did for my niece, and I let her finish it, sewing the head closed and then adding the hair. 

Below, you can see how I made a 'wig' piece first, and attached all the 'hair' to it, going round and round, till I had a full head of 'hair'.

This one too, I attached the curls round the 'wig' till I had a full head of curly hair.

 The faces were the most challenging for me. 

Let me recommend you practise lots on paper first.

 Then my son was disappointed they were all girls.... so Mom had to make a boy

I sewed on his hair, gradually covering the back and sides and then the top.

 I gave him a bed and chair with trimmings right away, also making my son a pillow case from the same fabric. He was tickled!

 There will be more to come next month, as I show you what I made for the dolls to give them a home complete with furniture!

 Happy Sewing

S.L. Kliever

Did you pray about it?

Joshua was one of the great leaders of Israel. One of the biggest mistakes he made had rippling effects for centuries to come. He forgot to ask God about a seemingly little thing.

In reading our Bible story at bed time with my kids, we read the story “Tricked!”. Joshua was approached by the Gibeons in disguised, fooled into thinking they were people from far away, and tricked into making a treaty with them. (You can read the story in Joshua 9.) If he had just asked God for guidance, he wouldn't have been so easily deceived.

The children's story that followed the Bible story demonstrated why we need to learn to be askers.

1 Thessalonians 5: 17 says “pray without ceasing”.

I often thought that meant we're required to try and pray all day long, or at least throughout the day. In a way, yes it does, but here's another thought.

Galatians 5: 16-18 says “I say then: walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”

I believe walking in the Spirit and praying without ceasing go hand in hand.

We need to be seeking the Lord in everything we do. Often times we rush a head, making a rash decision that may not be the best thing for us, and we leave the Spirit of God out of it.

Did you pray about it first?

I know some of you might think this is ridiculous, but in my own life there have been numerous times when I just talk to the Lord about my day, or the things I need/want to get done, and I find that He often will direct me. I have often found things we were in need of at the second hand store, something I had told the Lord we needed and we wanted to be wise with our money and not buy bran new if we could get second hand. And He provides.

Then there's major decisions too. I remember when we needed a van. We had outgrown our little car and needed something that suited our growing family. We prayed and found a second hand van. We were prepared to pay a few thousand for it, but again, the Lord led us to the right people and the right van and we ended up only paying $100. The people we bought it from wanted to bless us, and they did!!

Had we rushed into the whole thing, and went off and bought ourselves something else, somewhere else without praying, we may never have experienced that blessing.

Another Bible story we recently read with our kids was from 1Samuel 8-10. The Israelites wanted a king. God knew that was not what was best for them, but He let them have what they wanted.

Again, we don't see the people seeking God in this, rather telling God... straight out demanding of Him... we want a king! Being that He's given us a free will, He allows them their demand, but also with the consequences that come with that.

The children's story that went with this Bible story, depicted someone gorging themselves in sweets and junk food, just because that was what they wanted. The moral at the end of the story stated simply “It's best to want what's best for us. Who knows best what is best for you?”

And of course we all know that answer. Our Lord does.

I know praying about little things might seem ridiculous to some, but what if you, without praying, were going about your day in a rush, not spending time with the Lord and talking about your day, and you hurry off somewhere, ignoring that nagging feeling you should maybe stay home today, and then you find out later someone in need called upon you and you were not there to help them?

Or what if I made a decision about something. I think it's fine, in fact I wanted it and I had my heart set on it. Without asking the Lord, I plunge ahead and do it. Later I discover it was a stupid decision and a big mistake. Maybe I even had people warn me it wasn't the best, but I ignored them anyway.

Life would have been less complicated had I asked the Lord for guidance and waited for His leading.

Walking in the Spirit.

Sometimes God may not give us that gut feeling. Often He speaks to us through His Word. We might not be able to find the exact words to a curtain problem, but there's enough scripture and guidance there to help us make some decisions. For example. Does it line up with Galatians 5 and the fruits of the Spirit, or does it fall under the works of the flesh?

1Thessalonians 5:22 says “Abstain from all appearance of evil.”

Does it have the appearance of evil. If it does, is this something God would be pleased having you do????

We can go on and on with this. I am sure there are many topics we could cover here. But my challenge to you and to myself is this.

Did you pray about it?

S.L. Kliever

Preschool in progress! Part 4

The one thing I like most about Preschool, is that it doesn’t have to be complicated.  We just find things we like and use them. Recently the kids 'discovered' the library when I took them there for a visit. My daughter told me "I like this store!" Well, I'm glad they like books too!!

Here's a few of our favourite books that we read around our house.

Cowgirl Kate... these are some of my favourite, probably because they are humorous and the little girl is a responsible farm girl!

 Like me, my kids love the pictures in these books, I'm hoping that one day they'll take off reading the simple words.

 My Grandma Kliever introduced these books to me when I was little. I have all of one casset tape and have not been able to find more of the old tapes. I would love to get my hands on the tapes as the kids love listening to the stories. The top two books there are reprints of 8 of the original story books, and a CD can be bought to listen to these stories, though they are not the original tape recordings.

 Another favourite from my growing up years and for a while I had to read this one every night to my daughter!

 The kids love these ones, if not for the stories, the pictures. Miss Potter was a genius with pictures and stories!

 One or more of these Bible stories gets read every night. The kids love the Muffin Family bible story books, and I hope to find more for them.

 As for actual preschool work, my Mom picked this up for me at a second hand store for free, and my daughter loves it when we turn on the old tapes and she can say the sounds with the flash cards.

 I wonder if there are old CDs some where that I could get my hands on, but needless to say, it has been a good asset and probably will be in the future.

On that note, I would highly recommend The Reading Bear website. It has videos for the kids to watch and helps them sound out simple words, with an explanation of what the word means as well. The kids think they're being entertained, and I know they're learning!

 Another gift for the kids and something that has been added to the fun list of things we do around here. I like it cause it's MESS FREE!!!! And what mom doesn’t like that!

well, there you have it, another peep into our preschool!

S.L. Kliever

Preschool in progress! Part 3

Hello again!

I see I've neglected my blog for two months... that, I believe just shows I'm a mother and motherhood comes first.

So what have we been up to in our preschool at home? come take a look-see.

With the book I mentioned in a previous post, the kids are learning to sound out the simplest words. No they're not taking off with it at this point, but they are getting a foundation for later.

We also have fun with other activities, such as puzzles. They love these ones.

 What could be a better way to learn for a little boy who loves Thomas, than to learn letters, counting and colours with Thomas books?? :D Also, I picked up a Thomas magazine that has lots of activities for children.

 Alphabet stamps!! These have been great as we've learned to make Thank You cards for a few people, and Mommy helps them form the words.

Also activities colouring books and painting books, both gifts to the kids, have been a fun addition to our daily routine. 

 A friend of mine passed on a link, and through Pinterest I downloaded these counting worksheets and the kids have loved a different way to learn about counting.

 And because it's spring, we got the kids two pots each and they picked out their own flowers to plant. What excitement!! They were so eager to do this, and when we couldn't do it right away the day we bought them, they asked the next day. Then after their seeds were planted, they checked their pots every day to see if anything was coming up. You can imagine their excitement when they saw green shoots coming up!!

More adventures to come!!

S.L. Kliever

Craft for February

Calico Critter Bathtub!

I took an old shampoo bottle that was oval shaped, removed the labels and cut the bottom half off.

 I used blue crafting foam to put in the bottom of the tub

for water and a nicer finished look.

 Ribbon around the top for decoration, also covered up the rough edges from cutting the plastic. I would recommend using a wider ribbon than what I used, it would work better.

 I cut out some crafting felt and stitched around the edges to make a bathmat,

wash-cloth and towel. 

And there you have it, a bathtub for the critters. 

Happy Crafting!

S.L. Kliever

Craft for January

Critter Swing!

I don't remember much about my great grandma... but one thing I do remember well, was the doll house in an orange box that she had made, and all the little furniture she had made to go in it... all of which was made from things around the house, such as bottles.

Here is a swing made for Calico Critters... from a bottle.

I'm working on someone's birthday gift, so shhh! :)

I took an old vitamin bottle and cut the bottom off, about an inch deep.

I then cut some holes in either side, and strung a ribbon through. (String would work too). The cushion I made by tracing the outside of the bottle on some fabric, and then sewed it up with some cotton balls inside.

 Nice added touch was hot gluing some ribbon around the outside and putting a bow in the front. And there you have it!

The ribbon across the middle, holds the critter in place.

Happy Crafting!

S.L. Kliever

Craft for December

 Dresses for Calico Critters...

...And Dollies!

 
Well, it's that time of year again. My favourite time of the year, I might add. Growing up we didn't have a lot of the stuff that goes in people's wallets... but what we did have was creativity. So when Christmas rolled around, we would get to work making gifts for each other. It actually is so meaningful now to look back and think on, because as a family, even if we kids didn't always get along, we loved each other, and we certainly showed it around Christmas time, as we worked hard to make each other gifts.

So this year, for my daughter, I set to work making dresses for her Calico Critters, and dolls. I will show you the simplest way of making a large variety of dresses.

First off, you're going to need a rectangle. Make sure it's bigger than the size you actually need for a dress. As you can see, when you sew in all the sides, it gets considerably smaller.

 Then you're going to want to gather it in. I did this on the sewing machine, with a wide stitch, then pull on the threads to gather it in. Have your doll or critter on hand to check out the size, making sure it goes all the way around, and over laps in the back!

 I then added lace. This piece I sewed on, but adding ribbon or lace is easy with a hot glue gun!

 Then on the back, you're going to add your straps, using ribbon or lace, and don't forget Velcro. Before you hot glue it all on, make sure you try it out on the doll or critter to be sure it's all in the right place.

 And there you have it!

You can also do this same thing with (I believe it's called) Eyelet lace.
This required no sewing, only hot gluing! I love this lace!!

Now come see all the different kinds you can make with ribbon, lace, different fabric, and different sizes.

Happy Crafting!

S.L. Kliever